The bisque is recommended

Fenner also spent a few years in Washington, working for the Justice Department, and he shared quite a few meals there with John E. Smith, a lawyer from Atchison, Kansas, not far down the Missouri River from St. Jo, who was then working for Senator Dole and later became the house attorney of an Omaha trucking company.  Fenner still likes to talk to Smith about eating in Washington - the Cuban food at the Omega and the Middle Eastern food at the Calvert Cafe and the chili at Hazel's Texas Chili Parlor.  Fenner believes that Hazels' recipe was so secret that she carried it with her to the grave, although some other Washington eaters believe that it was handed down intact to a man with a tattoo, and still others believe that it was not the sort of recipe anyone would have to guard very closely.*  Fenner's favorite restaurant in the Washington area was the renowned Silver Spring fish house called Crisfield Seafood Restaurant.  He misses practically everything about Crisfield's. 

"They know how to treat children," I heard him say once. 

"They know how to treat oysters," said Morisseau, who did some eating in Washington himself.**

My Dad used to have lunch at Crisfield's pretty often because it was just a few blocks up Georgia Avenue from Hopkins APL where he worked, but I have an even better connection to Trillin's paragraph:  Two of the people who "knew how to treat children" at Crisfield's were Ned and Nancy, my friend Mollie's parents.  Ned ran the raw bar and Nancy ran the cash register and you'll never meet two nicer people.

I got to know them during the years that Mollie and I were housemates and during part of that time Mollie was the day care provider / favorite aunt / playmate for then babies and later toddlers, Charles and Samantha. Mollie's folks are the kids adopted grandparents and even though Ned and Nancy have retired to North Carolina, the families are still close with lots of visiting.  They do know how to treat children.



*Crisfield's is still open in the same location.  Omega closed after a fire.  The Calvert Cafe was renamed Mama Ayesha's in 1994 after its founder Mama Ayesha Abraham, who died in 1993.  It's still be run by her family.  And Hazel's Texas Chili Parlor is also closed but is the gastronomic mother, if not legal entity parent, of chili parlor chain Hard Times.  This article from DC's City Paper tells the fascinating story.

**Alice, Let's Eat by Calvin Trillin.  Page 122 in the 1978 copy of the Vintage Books paperbook I have.

How to support engineering

David and I were headed out to dinner last Friday and as we were walking to the Thai place that we like, I noticed a bunch of people with some kind of big display set up on Ellsworth Drive. And because I am inexorably pulled toward bunches of people with big displays* as Pekoe is inexorably pulled towards people wearing colors that have a high contrast to orange cat hair, I veered in toward the people to see what was what.

What it was was the Blair Robot Project***.  My alma mater sponsors Team 449 in the FIRST Robotics Competition and I won't bother to retype all of the "about us" text, but Blair competes prett' near every year and does pretty well prett' near every year. 

I admired the robotics, explained why I couldn't have any of the baked goods they were selling, stuffed a buck in the till, took a picture or two, and asked for some literature. I also gave my business card to the one of the adult mentors and suggested that she e-mail me and ask for a donation. I figured that if I got an e-mail, then they actually wanted the money.  I got the e-mail!

My company is chock full of engineers, so I figured that I could convince my Boss that supporting this kind of thing could help to grow our future employees.  And, not to put too fine a point on it, a whole bunch of the Blair Robot Team are ... female.  Women are underrepresented in science and engineering.  Sort of like wheat products are underrepresented on my shopping list.

Had he been hard to convince, I had a good paragraph from their hand-out at the ready:  "FIRST encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals.  FIRST and FRC are not just about building better robots or better engineers - they're about about building better individuals and better communities." Alas, I didn't have to quote this high falutin' rhetoric because my Boss agreed right away that our company should make a donation.  The check request awaits his signature. 

So if you wish to support science and engineering, or future women engineers, or cool robot stuff, check out their website:  Blair Robot Project or this one For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).  If you want to make things super easy on yourself send a check to Montgomery Blair High School, 51 University Blvd E, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (put "Robotics Team" in the memo line). 

And if you want to see why I want to work with these folks after they graduate from college, check out the Quotes page.  Three of my favorites:

"The drive chain is loose? Not my problem. Here, have a wrench. It might not be the right size." Eric Van Albert, in a rather blunt blog post


"Robotics is really preparing us for jobs at NASA. Look. We're past deadline overweight, overbudget, and our [project] doesn't even work!" Ben Shaya


"The harvester almost harvests, the shooter almost shoots, the robot almost drives, and the code almost compiles!"Ben Shaya, in describing the progress made on the robot


*What do I veer away from?  Well-meaning volunteers (or poorly paid staffers) with clipboards who ostensibly wish to "educate"** me about their issue but are really fundraising.  I don't give money to people on the street. 


**In the Leta dictionary (i.e., what I've noticed that people really really seem to mean) "educate" means "hector others into seeing things your way." 


***I think that's the first time that I didn't accidentally type "Blair Robert Project." 

Why community theater is my home

From a Silver Spring Patch interview with Silver Spring native Michael Blaustein:

Patch: What have you learned about the business?

M.B: In any industry it is a business. While it is important to build genuine relationships, this business is based on money. Money runs the business. When there is no money being generated those "friendships" slowly fade.

Patch: What do you say the key to your career is?

M.B: I would say networking is. In this business I would say talent is 30 percent and networking is 70 percent.

More than once I have described acting in Hollywood or New York as a career in sales with yourself as the product.

The Official AN/SPS-30 Cigarette Lighter

This post from Silver Spring: Then and Again is another one of those areas where elements of my personal history come together.

I live in Silver Spring (or at least moved here as a child) because APL was here. The Navy assigned Dad to APL, possibly as a Tech Rep, so my parents bought a house a couple of miles away. We expected to be here for two to three years. Naturally, I therefore ended up doing all but a few months of my schooling in Montgomery County schools.*  (I'm not sure but I think if I asked Daddy why the Navy assigned him there, he would say that it was to put him in proximity to Crisfields for lunch every day.)

So I grew up in Silver Spring, Daddy worked at APL, and the third leg of this triangle is, of course, that the company I work for now does radar here in Silver Spring, blocks from the old APL site.

Looking at the plaque, I can even understand most of what it says because quite a few of our contracts say much the same thing.  The numbering system for contracts hasn't changed, probably since 1781.

Not that I smoke, but if one of those were to show up at yard sale, I think I'd buy it in a hurry.


*I started kindergarten in at Quidnessett Elementary School in North Kingston, Rhode Island and we moved to Silver Spring in November of that year.  The year that I was 14, I spent six months living with Daddy in Belgium and attended the base school from March to June. Other than those brief lacunae, teachers at Parkside Elementary, Eastern Junior High, and Montgomery Blair High School had the daily struggle of getting me to stop daydreaming or surreptitiously reading.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

I started writing this post (oh my) a long time ago, when the story first ran about the loction of the cabin. I've been moved to update and finish it because the cabin will be open to the public this weekend.

* * * * *

It's a funny thing but until somewhat recently I assumed that Uncle Tom's Cabin was located in the deep south somewhere. Mississippi or Alabama or something. Although the image of Eliza running across a frozen river in the deep south should have put paid to that.

According to this website, the story begins in Kentucky and the icy river is the Ohio. The eventual destination is Canada. Later Tom is sold "down the river," but I'm not sure where. The one thing I do know is that the cabin of Josiah Henson, the slave whose autobiography inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to write the book, still exists and is located ...... in upscale Bethesda, Maryland.

Maryland, a border state during the Civil War (and a slave state before it), was put under martial law during the war because of the number of pro-Confederate officials and its proximity to Washington, DC.  My state, however, did remain part of the Union, (whew) due in part to the efforts of her governor, a slaveholder, who negotiated with federal officials.

Quickie geography refresher - the District of Columbia was originally a diamond-shaped territory donated by Maryland and Virginia. It is now a sort-of diamond-shaped territory with a ragged lower left (the Potomac River) because the Virignia section (Arlington - named for Robert E. Lee's home) was returned and is now the site of, among other things, the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.

Several major arteries go from the Maryland suburbs into DC, including Georgia Avenue, which passes in front of my church. And buried in the churchyard are 17 confederate soldiers who fought in General Jubal Early's raid and the Battle of Fort Stevens.  (The deli up the street has a General Jubal Early burger on their menu.)  I will pass the church (and the deli) on my way to the Josiah Henson Special Park.

And if they have copies of the Reverend's autobiography for sale, I shall buy one* and learn more about the history of my state.


*You know, to provide a bit of income to the Special Park.  If they don't, I can read it on-line.

USA Science & Engineering Festival

I've been asked to play Rachel Carson* at this festival, so I'm pretty excited about it.  Here (slightly edited by me) is the "please come to our festival and bring a future Dr. Sheldon Cooper with you" e-mail that I received today from the organizer via the director who recruited me.

*Actually, I was offered my choice of Rachel Carson; Sally Ride; or Rosalind Franklin. I look more like Dr. Ride than I do Ms. Carson, but, c'mon, Rachel Carson lived in Silver Spring.  It was a foregone conclusion that I would pick Carson.  And it gives me a more pressing reason to read Silent Spring and The Edge of the Sea than "Oh.  I should read those."  

Ever wanted to talk with a Nobel Laureate? Did you know red wine goes well with steak, but also has anti-aging properties? Want to uncover the mysteries of baseball's knuckleball? These and other intriguing questions are answered at the Inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival, the biggest celebration of science the World has ever seen!

Inspired by international science festivals that draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands, the goal is to increase our nation's awareness of science and inspire our nation's youth to consider science-related careers, while uniting our country and showcasing the amazing science and innovation taking place throughout the United States. The Festival descends on Washington, D.C. with events throughout the city for everyone, from the smallest child to the most established scientist; promising to be the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational, multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States.

Check out a video of the San Diego Science Festival (SM) at http://www.scivee.tv/node/12528

(SM) -- San Diego Science Festival is a registered California Service Mark of Science Spark

USA Science & Engineering Festival | c/o ScienceSpark | PO Box 2141 | Olivenhain | CA | 92024

So why have a Science Festival? Society gets what it celebrates! As a culture, we celebrate movie stars, rock stars and athletes and we generate a lot of them, but we don't celebrate science and engineering.

The Festival is analogous to an art, music or literary Festival but it is focused on Science and Engineering and accomplishes its mission via hands-on demonstrations, fun demos, and presentations including art, music, comedy, film and theater.

The Festival kicks off in just three weeks, offering over 150 FREE events for the public - all geared toward sparking an interest in Science.  Over 750 companies, universities, research labs, federal agencies, professional societies, community groups and science outreach organizations will participate.

You can find out all the details at:  http://www.usasciencefestival.org

The grand finale will be a two day EXPO on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  (and surrounding venues) on October 23-24, 2010--- over 1,500 fun, hands-on interactive activities and 75 stage shows for all ages. There will be stuff for the mildly curious to the science professional. You can learn about fun topics like the science of the magic of Harry Potter, the mathematics of jump roping, the physics of superheroes, the chemistry of Thanksgiving Dinner, the engineering of baseball bats and balls, the science behind special effects in movies, trends in Global Warming, renewable energy sources of the future .... (This is a completely non-profit, non-commercial, fun and educational initiative.)

You can operate state-of-the-art robots,  laugh with science comedians, be mesmerized by science magicians and mathemagicians, converse with astronauts, Nobel Laureates, science celebrities like Bill Nye the Science Guy and even scientists of the past, fly a fighter jet simulator, enter a virtual reality environment, be a CSI agent, make a virus out of marshmallows and toothpicks, try your hand at using a surgical robot, discover methods of measuring global warming, learn how to transform your car so it can run off a cuisinart etc.

And --- while having fun --- you can leave with information about science scholarships, internships, mentorship programs, jobs and much more.

Many, many thanks and best regards,

Larry Bock

Executive Director

USA Science & Engineering Festival

Bread and Roses

A few months ago a friend was asked to sign a petition protesting the "sweetheart deal" that a local professional theater/venue had or might have in the future.  She asked me about it and I actually was able to frame a reply that didn't involve sarcastic swipes at the giant, tax-payer funded stadia we have around here:

Sorry that it's taken me so long to reply but I wanted to get past my knee-jerk "don't hurt the arts!" response.

I was actually in that space on Monday night because [Theater}, who uses the space, was doing a season preview.  I chatted for a bit with [their artistic director], and he told me that [Theater] splits their gate with [Venue]. 

Considering [Theater]'s normal show budget, [Venue] is not pulling in lots of dollars from them.  It's kind of win-win because 1) [Theater]gets the use of a nice black-box theater which seats about as many people as they sell tickets for; 2) [Venue] doesn't have to absolutely program there year-round; 3) Silver Spring's profile as an arts destination is raised a bit; 4) people who want to see good shows for cheap can do it in place where there are restaurants and parking.

[Theater]received two Helen Hayes awards (a big deal in local professional theater) for their work in that space and if they are allowed to continue to use it they will continue to bring value to the downtown area.  Theater goers are actually pretty good about spending money around the theater.  They meet for dinner, they go out for drinks after, etc.  The American Association of Community Theaters has something on their website describing the dollar multiplier provided by theaters.  [Real theaters, not movie houses.  :-) ]

And [Theater] isn't the only group that uses that space.  Back in January the Community Theater Festival Association hosted the One-Act Festival there.  I don't know the financial arrangement, but I do know that Association doesn't have much cash, so it may have been a similar split the gate deal.  Folks came in from around the state to perform at the festival, so hotel rooms, dinner tabs, and liquor tabs were run up around the area.  I, personally, stayed in my own home, it being near by, but I had lunch on my tech day at Egg-spectations, coffee on performance day from Panera, lunch at Panera, lunch the next day with a big group at McGinty's, etc.

Contrast that with the situation at [Other] Theater.  They are about $6 million in debt.  [Another] theater is going up for auction on Tuesday due to a $4 million debt.  The economy is bad all around but arts organizations are always hit hard by any penny pinching.  When police are being laid off, it's hard to justify grants for plays.  Theaters cannot pay their bills on ticket sales alone.  If we did, seeing any play would cost close to New York prices.  We depend on donations from audiences and grant money from local, state, and federal agencies. 

But we also provide a benefit, both monetary and artistic to the communities in which we reside.  Theater goers spend money.  Theaters provide the kind of story-telling that is our cultural heritage.  Participating in theater provides the kind of team-work and character development that we ascribe to sports.

I don't know how much of a "sweetheart deal" Montgomery County should give to [Venue]  but I know that Maryland lags behind Virginia in what we give to the arts.  If we want all bread and no roses, helping to put [Venue] out of business would be a step in that direction.

I think I celebrated this wrong

Last night I stopped in a the Forum Theater season preview* and then walked home, stopping on the way at Baskin Robbins for a scoop of Daiquiri Ice sorbet. Yum....


It turns out that I could have honored the soltice better:

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (New Era) wishes all residents of Latvia a joyful "Ligo!" Midsummer holiday, LETA** was informed by Liga Krapane, the prime minister's press secretary.


The leader of the government wishes each person who celebrates the holiday an unforgettable feeling on Midsummer's Night while waiting around the bonfire singing "Ligo!" songs and waiting for the sunrise.


"The longest day and the shortest night, the bonfire, garlands, floral crowns, songs, cheese and a tankard of beer. This all belongs to the summer solstice, the celebration of which is an ancient and fundamental Latvian tradition. We are proud of this, and generation to generation we preserve it," said Dombrovskis in his festive greeting.


At the same time, he calls for the public to act responsibly towards themselves and those around them during the long holidays, so that this celebration will leave only positive and bright memories without tragedy or unpleasant consequences.

*Note to working actor - I wasn't planning to tear you away from your friends, merely to ask if you are rehearsing anything I should plan to see. But, alas, you couldn't give me a few seconds of your time, so that ticket is going unsold, isn't it?


*Not Leta = me, but LETA = the Latvian news agency. But wouldn't that be cool? If the prime minister's press secretary called me up and told me stuff like this?

Still a few bugs in the system

Google tells us that we can now use Google Maps to get transit information. "Oh, how nice!" I thought, because WMATA's website isn't always very user friendly and Google Maps usually is.

So I went to the site to give it a try and I picked a pretty darn simple trip: from my office to Silver Spring Stage, which is about 2 1/2 miles, largely up a main road served by about a zillion buses. I typed in the two addresses and got the following:

[my office address], Silver Spring, MD 20910

Travel time: about 46 mins
Showing Trip 1
Walk to 10145 Colesville Rd
About 46 mins

Beta: Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

1. Head west on [] Ave toward Georgia Ave/US-29 194 ft
2. Turn right at Georgia Ave/US-29 0.1 mi
3. Turn right at Colesville Rd/US-29 0.9 mi
4. Slight right to stay on Colesville Rd/US-29 1.2 mi

Walk to 10145 Colesville Rd
About 46 mins

Hmmmmmm. So I figured it was some kind of little glitch and ran it again using the car option (worked fine) and then ran it again using Public Transit. Apparently, Google wants me to get more exercise, because it still suggests that I walk the 2.3 miles. (And it seems that Google thinks I won't actually make the hike if they tell me how far it is because the total mileage figure doesn't show on the "public transit" results.)

So I tried WMATA. They have a newer, spiffier, prettier website since my last frustrating experience with them. I typed in the office address* and the theater's address and voila! I got three different suggestions, with cost information.**

I wouldn't have thought to go to WMATA's new site without the prompt from the less-than-optimal response from Google Maps.

So - once again - Google has quickly and easily provided me with lots of useful information! Just not in the way they had intended.


*Important trip: Type in only the street address, not the city, state, or zip because that's apparently just TMI and confuses the software.
**WMATA really, really wants us to use SmarTrip cards. One gets a ten-cent discount on the bus fare with a SmarTrip card.

Walking to work

My apartment is a mile from my office. There are lots of things that are good about this - I like living close in - but the best is that when the weather is nice and I don't have time pressures afterwards, I can walk to work. This is good for my pocketbook (the price of gas); the environment (the use of gas); and my figure (burning calories instead of gas).

Until recently I walked to work accompanied only by whatever reading material I had on me. This is a mixed blessing as one of the bigger stressors on my mother during my formative years was her belief that she had witnessed me crossing Colesvillle Road with, as she put it, my nose stuck in a book. More than once.

Oh, as if. That would have been dangerous.

Besides, I was crossing this*:

not this:



The fact that my co-workers have claimed to see me do the same thing here:


lends no credibility whatsoever to Mom's case.

Anyway, David recently upgraded to a newer, fancier, yadda, yadda iPod and, being the nice sort that he is, gave me his old one rather than tossing into a drawer or something. I call it myPod.

So now my walks to work have a soundtrack. I listed to podcasts of This American Life and Selected Shorts and am enjoying them so much that I sent a little money to WBEZ to help pay for them. (You're welcome.)** And a walk that takes about 25-ish minutes while reading takes about 20 minutes while listening, which is also good for my figure.

I suspect that the number of days that I walk will drop with the temperature, but for now walking around in the lovely autumn weather is a definite good. ++good, in fact.


*And pretty nearly exactly there, as a matter of fact. Just a little bit beyond the white car on the left.

**Yes, I realize that the WBEZ contribution is only for TAL. When I can, I'll pony up for SelSho.

My alma mater, not my year

David likes to check out the antique photos on Shorpy. Today he sent me this one of the archery team, cheekily labeled "I'm With Cupid."

Montgomery Blair High School girls, 1935

A life in the theater

Shriekback's description of rehearsing at Silver Spring Stage....


In a jungle of the senses
Tinkerbell and Jack the ripper
Love has no meaning, not where they come from
But we know pleasure is not that simple
Very little fruit is forbidden
Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
But you know evil is an exact science
Being carefully correctly wrong

Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big Black Nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home

We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans
Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us
We drink elixirs that we refine
from the juices of the dying
We are no monsters, we're moral people
and yet we have the strength to do this
This is the splendour of our achievement
Call in the airstrike with a poison kiss

Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

How bad it gets, you can't imagine
the burning wax, the breath of reptiles
god is not mocked, he knows our business
Karma could take us at any moment
Cover him up.....I think we're finished
You know it's never been so exotic
but I don't know, my dreams are visions
We could still end up with the great big fishes

Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

For Noah

I have to watch tv on Sunday evening.



Especially as I think I recognized someone in the trailer.

So unless you're Johnny Depp, I'm not taking your call during the show.*

With thanks to Silver Spring, Singular


*Some exceptions possible, but I wouldn't count on it.

Finally, a reason I can get behind

One of my complaints about our political system is how abundantly clear it is made that I don't matter. Nor, I realize, does anyone I know. (Well, except possibly Dan the Sports Mogul.) I don't have thousands of dollars to contribute and I don't have the will to band together other contributors to collect thousands of dollars. (And for what? To be ignored in the future? Giving money to politicians is like buying drinks for women who are way out of your league - sure, they're happy to accept but you're still not gonna score. And they'll chuckle about it later. If they remember it at all.)

So I don't have any money to give them and I live in a safely Democratic state. We don't see politicians around here unless ... well, I can't think of an unless. We don't see them. For which, really, I am rather grateful, actually. Think how hellish it is to live in Iowa if you aren't one of the 5 or 6 percent of the population* who actually caucuses.

I haven't gotten around to changing my voter registration from D to I, so I'm still morally obliged turn up for what this year will actually be a primary that will help to decide who our candidate will be. The "Potomac Primary," to be held on February 12, will be comprised of the three places where at least half of the people whom I know live: Maryland, DC, and Virginia.

And so the candidates - the few remaining** - turned their basilisk stare to us. I shudder. I really do.

So here's the sitch: Of the five candidates left standing as of today,*** I would be reasonably content with three of them. I live in a state with a closed primary, so I'm not allowed to vote for one of the three. Of the remaining two that leaves me, I'm fine with either of them. Frankly, I haven't been excited about a candidate since John Anderson and I was too young to vote for him. (Where have you gone, Harry Truman? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...) So that lessens an impetus to stand in line on Tuesday.

Except that my vote will actually count for something this time. Maybe.

And as there is - in the words of an elected official from Maryland that I was chatting with at brunch on Sunday - no daylight at all between HRC's and BHO's positions on most things, I'm going to have to decide based on externals.

And so, my criteria:

1. Ads. Just as public radio loses a dollar everything they call me thief or a mooch, a candidates lessens his or her changes of receiving my vote with everything ad I see and they lose an additional point for every negative ad. I've actually been home a little bit this week and had the tv on, so here's our "annoying Leta with ads score"

Clinton - minus 0.
Huckabee - minus 0.
McCain - minus 2. No negative ads.
Obama - minus 4. No negative ads.
Paul - minus 0.

2. Validating my hometown. I learned from Silver Spring, Singular that Obama's Montgomery County headquarters are in Silver Spring. On Georgia Avenue. In fact, his headquarters are prett' near the middle of a very oddly shaped geometric-ish figure comprised of: the house I grew up in, my elementary school, current home, office, high school, junior high (yuck), and home theater.

Clinton's are in .... Bethesda.

So that's points for Barack. I'm not sure how many, but definitely points.

I'll spend Tuesday trying to figure out which lever I'll pull (so to speak, no way of telling what voting system we'll be using) and I'll probably vote at the end of the day.

This time I may keep my ballot receipts as historic souvenirs.


* That number not made up.

** Did I mention that Marylanders don't matter? Most of the candidates have already gone home.

*** With Romney having headed home and Ron Paul still soldiering on.

Batter up

Arjewtino is going to Adult Baseball Camp. And because Community Theater is pretty much Fantasy Camp for drama geeks, I totally understand his excitement.

Have a great time, hit some ones, don't spit too much.

The Quotable Penguin

"The one-act play’s the thing for people with short attention spans. It’s live theater’s version of channel surfing."

From The Silver Spring Penguin's weekend calendar's plug for the Stage's festival.

Zooming in

Thanks to Silver Spring, Singular, I've been apprised that Google maps has updated their shots of my hometown. The previous pictures were from before a lot of the redevelopment took place, so looking at the old Google Maps image was a quick trip into the past.

Technically, I grew up one zip over in 20901, but for my purposes, Singular's search works just fine.

The first thing I did was zoom in really close onto my office and see that the back parking lot was pretty empty, so we know the picture wasn't taken on a work day;

The strongly western lean to the shadow indicates a picture taken it the morning;

Crusing north from my office to my church, I can see a nice full parking lot, so it's probably Sunday and the street parkers (like me) haven't arrived in full force, so it's probably before 10:00 am; and

The trees are pretty bare indicating winter or very early spring.

Respectfully submitted,
Leta for CSI: Silver Spring

PS - Peter..... Peter.... I can see your house from here.

Why Scott Simon is in my top 5

Very important announcement first:

I am copying this directly from the program for Blair's current production of A Christmas Carol, which I saw (and greatly enjoyed) last night. As Brett can tell you, Blair is my own beloved high school, but as he may not know, I was also in a Blair production of Guys and Dolls way back then. So without further ado:

The Montgomery Blair Players on Channel 26!

In 2001 The Montgomery Blair Players produced Guys and Dolls, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. We are happy to announce that video clips from that Blair production have been included in the new documentary on Mr. Loesser that will air Sunday, Dec. 3rd (this Sunday) on WETA Channel 26. We have not seen the show, but the producers tell us that Blair is featured and named in the broadcast. Please consider tuning in, and feel free to forward this note to anyone you feel may be interested in watching, especially alumni.

http://www.loessermovie.org

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

NPR geek that I am, I happily spend my Saturday mornings listening to Car Talk, Weekend Edition Saturday, and Wait, Wait. And like most NPR geeks, I have favorites. I love listening to John Burnett, Wade Goodwin, and Julie Rovner's stories; I adore Robert Siegel's warm, engaging laugh; Beej is just a lovely person to know; etc. I'm fickle enough that people drift in and out of my favorites list - which I will never be foolish enough to laminate - but a couple of positions are pretty solid. My pal Stacey is my all-time, no holds barred, favorite NPR staffer.

But Scott Simon is never out of the top 5. Warm laugh, goofball sense of humor, and he runs stories that apparently were chosen just to reward me for listening. This morning we got stories on famous poisonings in the Classical era; an interview with the author of a book about diagramming sentences, a school activity that I used to enjoy; an interview with Frank Loesser's daughter about the documentary which will feature the above-cited Montgomery Blair Players; and (oh my beating heart) an update of Ko-Ko's list song from The Mikado making fun of the new airplane security watch lists.

He likes Gilbert & Sullivan!! (Note to Scott - I was in the chorus of the Victorian Lyric Opera Company's production of Iolanthe from which the late Chief Justice Rehnquist got his robe stripes. I'm just sayin'.)

I wrote to Scott and asked for permission to post the lyrics. When he wrote back (!!) he pointed out that "since I did not sing, I did not exactly follow the rhyme scheme, but merely used it as a suggestion" and gave me the lyrics. Yes, yes, they can also now be found on NPR's website, but I got them directly from Scott.

All in all, a fine day for radio.

--The Transportation and Safety Administration, which is often assailed for wasting resources by checking infants in strollers and grandmothers with walkers, faced criticism this week for trying to focus its efforts by keeping a list that apparently assigns some kind of Threat Assessment Level to each passenger.

By now, probably every flier has a favorite story of what looked like an absurdity: a toddler who was made to take off his tiny rubber shoes and get wanded; an elderly war veteran who had to remove his plastic leg.

The wife of Senate Commerce Committe Ted Stevens, Catherine, was questioned at an airport because her name is the same as singer Yusef Islam, who used to be known as Cat Stevens.

But you ought to hear Mrs. Stevens sing, "Moonshadow."

There are also complaints that many lists do not contain the names of more plausible terrorists--because investigative agencies don't want to tip off people that they're being scrutinized.

The alarm over each flier being assigned some Threat Assessment level is that inaccurate or misleading information could lay around for years in some data base. Could an employer refuse to hire someone because they had a high Threat Assessment number? Could a bank turn them down for a loan? Will young couples in coffee bars ask, "What's your Threat Assessment Level," instead of "What's your sign?"

A lot of us who fly may have our own lists of people we'd like to leave at the departure gate:

As someday it may happen that a Watch List must be made
I've got a little list! I've got a little list!
of irritating passengers I'd choose to barricade
And who never would be missed! Who never would be missed!

There's the fellow with a backpack
that's the size of Zanzibar
He slings it o'er his shoulder and
leaves your nose all scarred

All people who just want to chat
when you just need to sleep
who tell smutty jokes about acrobats
rabbis, nuns, and sheep

And those who eat burritos
just before they board
they think they are discreet-o
but burp like harpsichords

There's the man with travel luggage
he dragged through yellow snow
who puts his grimy wheels on your coat
and crushes your hat like a bus rolling over a banjo

All people who shout into Airphones
"I'm calling from the plane!"
What was so damn important?
They never do explain.

And pilots who must point out--
"Uh, folks. Flying over Toledo now,"
as if beholding the Taj Mahal
Each access road and shopping mall
holds them in a thrall.

There's the man who has six martinis
and crawls on the drink trolley
Then sings drinking songs from Rawalpindi
all the way to Bali.

But it really doesn't matter whom
you put upon the list.
They'd none of them be missed.
I'm sure they'd not be missed.

I thought that instead of Toledo he said "Silver Spring," and a reference to my hometown would probably have pretty much cemented him in the #2 slot, but perhaps I misheard...

So that makes Gaithersburg Scarsdale

We were discussing euphemisms, like the ever-popular Utahan "Oh my heck," and I was telling him about growing up in a Catholic neighborhood where the common exclamation was "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" because *that* wasn't swearing. And he said, 'Well sure. Silver Spring is the Brooklyn of Montgomery County."

And before I could even smack him or upbraid him or anything, I realized that he's right. Completely right.